We strode with alacrity through the icy wind and the afternoon high temperature of -16C yesterday afternoon having decided we'd go out to the ravine with Jackie and Jillie despite the cold. Jackie froze up when we were fifteen minutes from the end of our circuit, poor little tyke, and asked to be picked up. I carried him until we got to the last long hill and he spirited himself to the top, waiting to be leashed before approaching the street.

Jillie managed to hang on until we were actually in our driveway, and Irving scooped her up, favouring her poor frozen paws. The rubber boots are fine in most conditions, but with such a thin shield between an icy surface on a freezing-cold day and tender paws, they fail a critical element of their suitability test. We had a frustrating time with the expensive Muttluks we'd got for them, they simply wouldn't stay on, kept falling off and drove both us and the puppies to distraction. 

The booties I used to make for Button and Riley out of fleece and leather worked far better than the Muttluks. They tended to fall off too, but not nearly as often. So I've asked our granddaughter to send us a link to the website where she had ordered fleece-lined felt boots for her latest additions to the family zoo.

Before we even took Jackie and Jillie out to the backyard first thing this morning they wore their little woolly sweaters. Which kept their bodies warm in the -24C morning temperature, but not their little feet susceptible to freezing. Irving usually carries Jackie back up to the deck and into the house because they both are so fixated on sniffing out the rabbit trails they tend to 'forget' they're out for elimination purposes and by the time they get around to it, they're frozen.

Visually, it's a beautiful day. The broad blue ocean of sky, the sun riding high and brilliant. But the temperature failed to rise above -20, and any kind of wind at that temperature bites cruelly. So no trot through the ravine today for Jackie and Jillie, much less us. It's why we mustered the energy to get out yesterday, knowing today might turn out impossible to negotiate. We'll give it another try tomorrow, and may have better luck.